With all the recent rumours swirling of a new PS4 version of Crash Bandicoot, I thought it would be a great idea to see what all the hoopla was about. I never actually did play a Crash game before so I had very little information to go on. I did not even know it was a platformer haha.


So I bought the original.The game originally launched for the PlayStation One from Naughty Dog (Uncharted, Last of Us) back in 1996...Yes it's been nearly 20 years already. I didn't know what to expect other than that I knew Crash would be the protagonist and that a bandicoot is a real animal. I am about 18 levels into the game out of 32. My initial impressions of the game are to be expected of a PS1 game from the mid 90s. The game is really good. The graphics, despite being from '96 on an oversized TV, are actually very good considering the era it came from. The controls however can be a tad difficult to manoeuvre when it comes to fine tuning a jump or a turn. But other than that, the game plays perfectly fine. No glitches. No bugs. No frame rate issues. It's a solidly built game.

With that said however, the game is EXTREMELY FUCKING DIFFICULT. I'm not a platform speedrunner by any means and quite honestly I've played very few platforms games that aren't Mario related but damn this game is hard at times. I've probably put in about 15 hours in this game so far. That comes to 48 minutes per level (on average). That's extremely long and frustrating at times. It is a hard game for those not used to platformers or the controls. Even with these hair-pulling moments, the game is still extremely fun.

All things considered, my very first Crash Bandicoot experience ever is turning out to be an overwhelming positive and frustrating one. The game looks good for the time and is a game that paved the way for Naughty Dog. Their landmark game started an era that would later introduce Uncharted and Last of Us most recently.

Overall I would happily give this game 4.5/5